Do blue LED strips need to be timed?

[Daven]

I was bored and decided to try and wire up a blue LED strip i had laying in the basement using a DC power block from an old printer lol the strip has 6 blue LEDs and i wired it to get 16v from the supply.

Anyways, i taped it onto the stock light fixture where it was flat and unused anyways, so that it is shining through the clear plastic into the tank (protected from water). The light isnt real bright. I was wondering if it would be too much light to be left on all the time or if it would need to be timed? Ive never owned LED lighting, but previously i had assumed the blue moonlight was to be on at night. But googling a bit afterwards brings up that it might cause issues. If it cant be left on at night, what exactly was the point? lol Heres a picture, although it seems brighter in the pic than in person

 

[Reefer James]

Yeah turn it off at night. Fish need a night cycle. Corals grow in darkness. it will grow algae a lot more.

 

[Daven]

Yeah turn it off at night. Fish need a night cycle. Corals grow in darkness. it will grow algae a lot more.

Ahh so the whole moonlight thing is pointless? Or should it be used to ease in and out of day so its not so bright all of a sudden? Like for example: 10am blue on, 11am florescent on, 9pm florescent off, 10pm blue off? Idk why anyone would want just blue on all the time

 

[Reefer James]

Do you have live plants? If not do it however you like it It's for your pleasure.

And yes moonlight is pointless unless you're attempting sexual spawning based on moon phases. In which case the moon has a crazy spectrum of light and is no where need marked "moonlights" hahaha. If you want to see the fish at 11pm then for all sake and purposes turn it on and look at the fish under moonlight haha.

 

[Daven]

Do you have live plants? If not do it however you like it It's for your pleasure.

And yes moonlight is pointless unless you're attempting sexual spawning based on moon phases. In which case the moon has a crazy spectrum of light and is no where need marked "moonlights" hahaha. If you want to see the fish at 11pm then for all sake and purposes turn it on and look at the fish under moonlight haha.

No live plants currently. My original thought was this way i could kinda veiw them all the time without being limited to 10 hours a day (which on weekdays is only 4 or so hours im actually home for). I thought it would cause issues having the lights on for longer than 10-12 hours a day so if thats the case maybe ill just try to squeeze in another 2 hours total with the previous time-frames. Too bad lights cant be on all the time :/

 

[Reefer James]

really any light without plants will grow only algae haha.

 

[Daven]

really any light without plants will grow only algae haha.

Yeah i know :/ too bad it cant be viewed outside of those times :/ Is the blue light any less for the algea issues vs the t12 bulb? Just wondering what you guys think id be best for having this run. With the stock hood i cant mount it in a way that the blue hits the fish unless they are near the back anyways so its pretty pointless in my case if i wont benefit having them on by themselves.

Ive also been thinking maybe i could take a 1 hour break in between to have just the blue on as ive read the break in the lighting time helps break up the algea production. I could go 10am blue on, 11am T12 on, 4-5pm T12 off with blue on, 9pm T12 off, 10pm blue off. Or something along those lines. This would require that the blue LEDs dont put out enough of what the algea needs to grow, which im not sure about. But being as there is only 6 of them, and they arent getting full voltage anyways, it might not be bright enough to matter so much? Am i completely off base here? lol

 

[ScotJudd]

I can only say what I do, and it might not be right.
6am blue lights on
7am blue lights off and main lights on
8pm blue lights on and main lights out
10pm blue lights off
I find the fish are not so shocked by the main lights coming on and going off if the blue light is present. It's also nice to look at in the evening and after all, that's what we keep them for, to look at. I don't have an algae problem but the tank is very heavily planted. I did get bad front glass algae but that was due to the morning sun hitting the tank. I leave one curtain across until lunch time and that has minimised the algae.
It's amazing how different the tank looks in the late evening with the blue lights and the fish behaviour changes totally as they settle down for the night.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Daven]

I can only say what I do, and it might not be right.
6am blue lights on
7am blue lights off and main lights on
8pm blue lights on and main lights out
10pm blue lights off
I find the fish are not so shocked by the main lights coming on and going off if the blue light is present. It's also nice to look at in the evening and after all, that's what we keep them for, to look at. I don't have an algae problem but the tank is very heavily planted. I did get bad front glass algae but that was due to the morning sun hitting the tank. I leave one curtain across until lunch time and that has minimised the algae.
It's amazing how different the tank looks in the late evening with the blue lights and the fish behaviour changes totally as they settle down for the night.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

Thanks for the input! I have been leaving my blue lights on with the mains since it helps my stock t12 housing have a little more colour. I just have an "aquarium and plant" bulb in otherwise that's more orange alone